Many power generators operate using energy sources including fossil fuels, such as coal, oil and natural gas. However, the burning of fossil fuels produces harmful emissions and adversely affects animal life, plant life, and the environment. Furthermore, fossil fuels are non-renewable resources and will be depleted in the near future. Alternate, renewable energy sources being leveraged today, including solar energy, wind energy, ocean wave energy and geothermal energy are considered “clean” energy sources, but do not have very reliable energy output capabilities. For example, solar energy cannot be used at night or during cloudy or stormy weather. Wind energy is also not very reliable, as wind energy is dependent on weather conditions. Ocean wave energy depends on erratic wind strength and weather conditions, and geothermal energy is restricted by an extremely limited set of conditions and high initial installation costs. Moreover, harnessing geothermal energy requires drilling into the earth's crust and can result in the release of toxic gases and minerals.
Conversely, ocean tides are highly reliable, cycling once or twice each twenty-four-hour period. Ocean tides are also widely available to most parts of the world, and are a renewable source of clean energy. Existing tidal power generators suffer from various deficiencies, including, for example, prohibitively large construction and maintenance time and costs, harmful environmental impact, an inability to operate over a full range of tidal depths, an inability to operate independently of a normal tidal cycle for an extended period of time (e.g., longer than 12 hours), an inability to elevate water above a natural high tide, and so forth. In light of the foregoing deficiencies, there exists a need for a novel form of renewable energy that is reliable, cost-effective, efficient, environmentally friendly, and capable of operating in most coastal regions.